Alinia/Nitazoxanide for gen 1a ?

[22hamilton]

Hi Guys was wondering whether anyone had any experience with alinia. I am gen 1a and have failed treatment twice. I now have cirrhosis and the new treatments still look a long way off. My consultant has recommended giving pegasys/copegus plus alinia a try until the new drugs are available. I know that alinia isnt normally used for gen 1 and his thinking may be more along the lines of trying to slow things down rather than achieve a SVR. He suggests I try it for four weeks to see if I get a response, if I did respond significantly he woul keep me on treatment for the usual 48weeks.
Would be grateful for any comments, especially potential pitfalls.
Cheers everyone.
Stay Strong !
Paul

[gauf]

Used it for tox 3. I'm G3. No sides from it for me. Get the 3 mos post PCR results in  week or so. Lots of Alinia info on my profile page, good luck

[orleans]

Hey, I used it, (WAS!!) G1. UND @ 2 weeks and @ 12 week post tx PCR. Below are the links that influnced my decide.  jerry
http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/2008icr/easl/docs/050608_b.html
http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/2008icr/aasld/docs/120208_a.html
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/338944
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/342441

[22hamilton]

Thanks for your replies guys, am going to seriously consider as its only 4weeks sacrifice if I dont respond.

[ClippedWings]

I'm also a Genotype 1A with cirrhosis and I used Alinia with the SOC of Pegasys and Ribavirin.  It didn't work for me, I was non-responder, but the Alinia had little to no side effects.  Best of luck to you.

[merryBe]

I used alinia, it was pretty smooth sailing after a couple days of minor gastric stuff. I can't say if it helped my outcome as I haven't had my 3 month PCR.
However it does interfere with DNA transcription which is why it knocks down the virus sooner and why it helped improve overall SVR's, and studies show an impressive improvement in both EVR and SVR in type 4 patients.
Whether their improvements will translate as well for type 1's remains to be seen but the initial studies have shown gains worthy of note. Both my doctor, and his Stanford colleauge Emmet Keefe were sufficiently impressed with the data to allow me to try it (after some persistance on my part), but I think more docs are getting on board with the idea now that more data has come out on it, and particularly since Keefe and others themselves conducted the STEALTH 2 trials here state side.  
PM me for more info.Or just type Alinia into the search window in here and several discussions will come up.

mb

[merryBe]

I used alinia, it was pretty smooth sailing after a couple days of minor gastric stuff. I can't say if it helped my outcome as I haven't had my 3 month PCR.
However it does interfere with DNA transcription and studies show an impressive improvement in both EVR and SVR.
PM me for more info.Or just type Alinia into the search window in here and several discussions will come up.

mb

[CoWriter]

CS used it too.  But he's a genotype 3.  He had failed treatment twice and this time he cleared at 4 weeks (and remains clear at week 20) by PREDOSING Alinia for two weeks, predosing the Ribavirin for two weeks and double dosing the Peg for several weeks.

He had planned to continue taking the Alinia for the full treatment but after taking it for  7 weeks he got severe diarrhea and had to stop it.  He tried restarting it later and it was even worse.  Even though Alinia is used to treat diarrhea, it can also cause it.  

While the mechanism of action of Alinia is largely unknown, what is known is that it activates PKR (Protein Kinase R) and also interferes with protein folding.  It is also a powerful antibacterial.  The best part is that if Alinia doesn't work, at least it doesn't make you more resistant like some of the PIs.

Co

[Bill1954]

Thanks, my friend-- hang in there; you'll eventually prevail--

Bill

[22hamilton]

Thanks Bill, congratulations on your success-you certainly deserve it !
Paul

[Bill1954]

Hi Paul,

Sorry to hear of your problems. We’ve had a number of GT-1 patients that have utilized Alinia as an adjunctive to the standard of care treatment. I’m sure on of the will offer their thoughts and experiences, but the weekends here tend to be slow.

One that comes to mind is ‘gauf’; although I think he’s GT-3 with cirrhosis. You might send him a private message to find out more; I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to talk with you.

http://www.medhelp.org/personal_pages/user/144210

Best to you—

Bill